


love, it's only love

by salvadore



Category: American Actor RPF, Social Network (2010) RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Kissing, M/M, Underage Kissing, assorted other american actors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-17
Updated: 2012-04-17
Packaged: 2017-11-06 00:42:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/412822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/salvadore/pseuds/salvadore
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(HS AU.) Andrew indicates that he's going to turn into the drive, left arm lifted and bent to make the right turn signal, and Jesse has to bite his lip so as to refrain from smiling. This boy, pulling into his driveway behind his grandmother's mini-van is such a dork. Jesse has never known it so well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	love, it's only love

**Author's Note:**

> For the [tsn-springfest](tsn-springfest.livejournal.com).
> 
> Title is inspired by a line from "First Love" by The Maccabees and, also, pretend Chloe isn't 13 years younger than everyone else in real life.

“You know,” Emma says to Andrew, sliding her feet from her sandals so they flop to the ground. She wiggles her toes with their red-painted nails and says, “We would have made an amazing Laurence Oliver and Vivien Leigh. If it weren't for a mister Jesse Eisenberg.”

Emma tips her head to the side to wink at Jesse. It's a saucy wink, accompanied by a grin that bellies the topic at hand and Jesse's cheeks go hot and red because of it. He drops his chin so Emma can't see and so Andrew can't draw his eyes across the table and make Jesse blush all the more when Andrew grins at him as well.

His attempt at hiding doesn't really work, not with Emma knocking her shoulder into Jesse's and nudging at him until he lifts his head to meet her gaze. She gives him a winning smile and then reaches out to squeeze his shoulder. Her tone is humorous as she adds, “And a -”

“Certain sex-god by the name of Ryan? Last name rhymes with . . . osling?” Andrew asks, interrupting as he tosses the undercooked biscuit that came with his mash-potatoes over Emma's head. It hits the grass just as Emma makes an affronted sound.

“That is none of your business,” Emma tells him, as she squeezes Jesse's shoulder one more time before using it to sweep up a handful of French-fries from her tray which she turns to throw at Andrew's head. She would be a lot more convincing if Ryan wasn't sitting two tables over, watching them from over Justin's shoulder. Ryan grins when all three of them turn their heads to stare.

“He's a sex-god -”

“Allegedly.”

“- And he likes you.”

Jesse watches the exchange with his packed lunch mostly untouched except for the sandwich, which is getting squished between his fingers. 

Andrew taps two fingers on the aluminum of the table, drawing Jesse's attention upward so his eyes and his still blushing cheeks are in plain sight. And Andrew smiles and Jesse smiles back. Not as quickly or as easily, but he is getting there.

“Do you want to come over to my house after rehearsal?”

Jesse nods, even though it's odd. They never hang out at Andrew's house.

Andrew lives with his paternal grandparents. He'd moved over in England in September and joined Jesse's algebra class two weeks late. Apparently the move had something to with a summer trip his parents had made to Africa to visit Andrew's older brother who was working as a doctor without borders. The plan, Andrew had told Jesse, was for his parents to visit Robert, then take a safari through the savannah. Instead they had found a way to take nine-months off from their respective jobs to help volunteer alongside their eldest son.

“Jesse?”

Jesse nods again, quick, and he says, “Yeah, I'll meet you at the bike rack?”

“We could walk out together,” Andrew says. His tone is teasing and, wow, Jesse doesn't know when Andrew's fingers wrapped themselves around his own, but there they are and Andrew’s skin is warm against Jesse’s as he runs his thumb across the back of Jesse’s knuckles. Jesse swallows hard and his head bobs, showing that he's slowly becoming a bobble head under Andrew constant attentions because this all so ridiculous.

“I’ll meet with you after you’ve changed out of your costume? “ Jesse asks, posing it as a question even though Andrew is already nodding along before Jesse is halfway finished. 

\--

The school drama and choir departments are putting on a performance of _Into the Woods_. Apparently it's a pet-project the choir and drama teachers have been scheming and sketching out for years, planning and budgeting. 

Despite their clear excitement at putting the play together, they'd put the play proposals to a vote, first asking each student to submit ideas and Jesse had several ideas, lists of them, each written in pen on scrap pieces of paper before being scribbled out and crumbled up before being shoved to the bottom of his backpack. But then, by magic or the sleight of hand of a group of brown-nosing teacher's pets, the results had managed to make the teachers' dreams come true.

Jesse was assigned to the tech crew after the auditions wrapped up with each role going to an expected choice, but Jesse hasn't had anything to do toward the production for a month. His job was to help hang the lights and make sure they were properly positioned with the right gels and silhouettes applied when necessary. Now, Jesse mostly sits in the back of the theater with the other tech-kids and does his homework or he watches while Ryan makes faces at Emma from downstage stage. More often then not this is met with Emma calling him a jerk over the “god” mike to the irritation of the drama and choir teachers, and to the ongoing amusement of everyone else. 

Today Emma is halfway out of the window of the sound both, talking to Joe who is gaff-taping cords along the wall below. Andrew is onstage and in his costume, his knees drawn to his chest while his hands fly about as he tells Kirsten a story to amuse them both while the rest of the cast finishes trying on their costumes. Jesse is the only tech-kid that didn't take the lunch break to go goof off in the parking lot. He has his textbook from AP History out on his lap and he's playing a balancing game with his notebook and pencil as he tries to take notes for the test coming up in a week. 

Jesse is also trying to come up with excuses to get out of going to Andrew's house. He knows what Andrew has planned, Jesse might by self-deprecating, but he isn't an idiot. It's also not the first time he's knowingly walked into a situation in which he is going to be making out with someone, but he's a little bit more concerned about looking like an idiot with Andrew than he was with Milo Ventimiglia. Though, making out with Milo had come with the benefit of being flushed and loose from too many wine coolers, and with Milo half-naked while Jesse was still fully dressed. 

Jesse would be ready to be alone with Andrew in his house, if he could stop thinking about the shape of his face and lips, and if he could trade his brain out for someone else's. Which is why he ends up sneaking into the boys dressing room to hide as soon as he's sure Andrew has finished changing. Anticipating that Andrew has gone downstairs to go over his notes with Kirsten and Ryan one more time before going to get his scooter, Jesse calculates how long he'll need to wait for Andrew to leave without him. Jesse has his textbook, notebook, time to spare, and an embarrassing knowledge of where he can find the janitors to have them lock up after he sneaks out. 

He's just managed to calm down his heart and sneak out from the coat racks, and get his text open to the next section on the civil war when he hears someone bang back through the stage door, throwing them so that they smack the walls. When there isn't an immediate scolding Jesse starts to suspect who it is heading his way, like a sarcastic missile made up of freshman girl limbs and a deep sense of satisfaction at running the whole theater since orientation.

“Yo Eisenberg!” A girl's voice hollers from the stairs outside. There's the thud of boots on the steps, getting louder as she comes closer and Jesse doesn't need the door to fly open with the force of a small hand to know who is saying, “Someone is trying to steal your bike, bro.” 

Chloe grins at him, mischievous, and holding the door open. From beyond her wrist, which is clad with a surprising number of bangles, Jesse can see the shape of Andrew's ridiculous hair appearing as he bounds up the steps. 

“I wasn't stealing your bike, Jess! I told her but she didn't believe me,” Andrew whinges, sliding around Chloe in the doorway. And Chloe, she pulls the door closed behind her. 

And Jesse is alone in this room with Andrew who is grinning sheepishly at him as he runs his fingers through his hair. 

“Are you ready to go Jess?” Andrew asks. He's running his fingers over the pages of Jesse's textbook, and Jesse doesn't know how to say no to the way Andrew is blushing and shuffling his feet as he tries to slowly close Jesse's textbook for him. 

\--

Jesse follows behind Andrew on his bicycle, sneaking peaks at the lines of Andrew's back as he sits straight with his hands on the handle bars like he's imagining he's driving something more hardcore than a baby blue vespa while wearing a matching helmet. 

Even though Jesse has never been to Andrew's house, not officially, he knows the neighborhood around the school like the back of his hand from long weekends spent riding alone on the mostly empty streets under the summer sun. 

Andrew indicates that he's going to turn into the drive, left arm lifted and bent to make the right turn signal, and Jesse has to bite his lip so as to refrain from smiling. This boy, pulling into his driveway behind his grandmother's mini-van is such a dork. Jesse has never known it so well. 

But then he's leaning his bike against the wall of Andrew's house and Andrew is nearby. His hair is gravity-defying and his helmet is tucked against his side. 

“Hey,” Andrew says, and Jesse nods back. He tucks his chin to his chest just as Andrew ducks down to kiss him. Andrew's lips catch on the bridge of Jesse's nose and he reels back immediately, laughing breathlessly and with his cheeks going bright red as Jesse jerks his head back up to look at him. Andrew's lips part, moving without words in an awkward fish like manner as his cheeks get steadily more red. And, it's cute. It's awkward and embarrassing and somehow everything Jesse needs to surge forward, throwing his arms around Andrew's neck as he drags him down to Jesse's level. 

Their lips do not slide together perfectly, it isn't the perfect rom-com moment, and that's okay by Jesse. He runs his fingers through the hairs at the back of Andrew's neck, parting his lips just a little as Andrew's lips finally completely cover his own instead just the corner of his mouth. Andrew is . . . less experienced than Jesse expected, but when Jesse runs a hand down Andrew's side and uses the fingers he has pressed gently against the back of Andrew's skull, Andrew let's Jesse move him. Jesse moves his lips against Andrew's, sucking and pulling while his heart starts beating faster. Andrew's lips part and his tongue is a surprise against Jesse's lips. So is the thigh Andrew is pressing between Jesse's own. Both make Jesse shudder, tipping his head back so Andrew has the right angle and - 

There is a cough from behind them followed by Andrew's grandmother saying, “Well, good afternoon, boys.” 

Andrew and Jesse spring away from each other. Jesse is panting and his lips sting; there is heat rising from his collar to engulf his entire face in a blush and from the corner of his eye he can see Andrew desperately trying to straighten out his hair. 

And Grandma Garfield just watches on, smiling openly while Andrew's pet Labrador retriever bounds around on his leash, panting and grinning in the way only a dog can first at Andrew and then at Jesse. He whinges and pulls on his leash until Grandma Garfield leans down to take the leash off. 

“Down Humphrey,” Andrew mumbles as he's nearly toppled over by his dog. 

“So, are you staying for dinner, Jesse?” Grandma Garfield asks as she approaches, pulling her keys from her pocket and starting to chuckle as she slips past Jesse to the front door. And Jesse looks at Andrew who is kneeling on the ground, face tomato red and his hair sticking up in the back despite his best efforts. Andrew glances at him and smile, awkward and sweet while Humphrey licks at his face

“If you don't mind,” Jesse mumbles at Andrew's grandmother, and she just laughs some more before ushering them both into the house.


End file.
